RE:OT - Jeff and Ferguson - rare earthsBrainer, This is my opinion only. First off, rare earth's are not as rare as the name implies though China has a large amount of them.
As for electric vehicles, I'm not a fan and for numerous reasons. One they are hyped as being "eco" friendly and they certainly are not. The amount of fossil fuels to produce an electric vehicle are crazy plus they are unfortunately "not recyclable!!! just like those stupid giant electric generating power fans we see, "not recyclable".
Two, the cost to buy an electric vehicle is considerably more than most gas/diesel fuel vehicles. Today people are having a hard time putting food on the table let alone buy a "green" vehicle which buy the way has very limited range and if you plan to tow something your range drops 75%. Electric vehicles in high numbers is eons away.
Also, California's Gov. signed an executive order for everyone to have an electric vehichle by 2035, good luck! California currently have rotating blacks outs just so they can power their homes 4 -6 hours a day and the power company is bankrupt!
As for China, they are trying to rule the world by purchasing infrastuctures of governments including farms and ports! Australia made the big mistake of doing too much business with China and will now pay for it. Oh and China would love to have all that Aussie gold.